Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, streaming October 2025 across top streaming platforms

A chilling spectral suspense story from author / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric evil when strangers become tools in a fiendish experiment. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving episode of living through and age-old darkness that will resculpt fear-driven cinema this autumn. Produced by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and eerie suspense flick follows five figures who come to sealed in a isolated house under the ominous dominion of Kyra, a troubled woman overtaken by a antiquated holy text monster. Arm yourself to be shaken by a immersive display that harmonizes intense horror with legendary tales, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a classic fixture in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is redefined when the entities no longer originate from elsewhere, but rather inside them. This illustrates the haunting corner of every character. The result is a psychologically brutal mental war where the suspense becomes a unyielding contest between right and wrong.


In a forsaken natural abyss, five campers find themselves contained under the possessive sway and infestation of a secretive person. As the protagonists becomes incapable to oppose her grasp, exiled and tormented by entities unnamable, they are thrust to battle their inner demons while the clock unceasingly draws closer toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety mounts and bonds break, pushing each figure to examine their being and the foundation of independent thought itself. The pressure accelerate with every heartbeat, delivering a paranormal ride that blends unearthly horror with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to draw upon primitive panic, an curse rooted in antiquity, influencing psychological breaks, and dealing with a darkness that tests the soul when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra meant channeling something more primal than sorrow. She is in denial until the takeover begins, and that shift is soul-crushing because it is so close.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring watchers around the globe can witness this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original clip, which has pulled in over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, exporting the fear to fans of fear everywhere.


Be sure to catch this bone-rattling spiral into evil. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to see these fearful discoveries about the soul.


For cast commentary, extra content, and announcements from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursed across media channels and visit the movie portal.





Current horror’s Turning Point: 2025 U.S. lineup braids together myth-forward possession, signature indie scares, set against Franchise Rumbles

Running from survival horror steeped in legendary theology and onward to IP renewals in concert with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is shaping up as the most dimensioned in tandem with carefully orchestrated year since the mid-2010s.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. studio powerhouses hold down the year through proven series, even as SVOD players crowd the fall with unboxed visions together with legend-coded dread. On another front, the art-house flank is catching the tailwinds of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: High-craft horror returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule kicks off the frame with a risk-forward move: a refashioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, instead in a current-day frame. Guided by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. dated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Eli Craig directs and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer fades, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Despite a known recipe, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

After that, The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson is back, and those signature textures resurface: retro dread, trauma in the foreground, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time the stakes climb, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The new chapter enriches the lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, bridging teens and legacy players. It lands in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

SVOD Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a close quarters body horror study pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No heavy handed lore. No canon weight. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Series Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror retakes ground
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The oncoming spook release year: returning titles, universe starters, paired with A loaded Calendar engineered for jolts

Dek The emerging terror cycle crams early with a January cluster, subsequently extends through the warm months, and well into the late-year period, blending marquee clout, novel approaches, and calculated offsets. Major distributors and platforms are betting on right-sized spends, box-office-first windows, and platform-native promos that convert genre titles into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the sturdy counterweight in programming grids, a corner that can lift when it breaks through and still hedge the risk when it does not. After the 2023 year demonstrated to studio brass that modestly budgeted pictures can command the discourse, the following year held pace with high-profile filmmaker pieces and sleeper breakouts. The energy carried into 2025, where revived properties and elevated films signaled there is capacity for many shades, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that export nicely. The sum for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the field, with obvious clusters, a harmony of recognizable IP and first-time concepts, and a revived attention on cinema windows that increase tail monetization on premium on-demand and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the category now operates like a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can debut on most weekends, deliver a clean hook for promo reels and vertical videos, and outpace with viewers that show up on Thursday previews and stick through the week two if the entry lands. Post a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping indicates conviction in that model. The year rolls out with a crowded January schedule, then taps spring and early summer for counterweight, while reserving space for a late-year stretch that extends to Halloween and into the next week. The layout also reflects the tightening integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can platform and widen, create conversation, and roll out at the right moment.

A second macro trend is brand management across shared universes and legacy franchises. The companies are not just producing another installment. They are working to present connection with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that announces a new tone or a casting move that ties a new installment to a early run. At the same time, the creative teams behind the eagerly awaited originals are celebrating in-camera technique, physical gags and specific settings. That fusion provides the 2026 slate a confident blend of brand comfort and invention, which is the formula for international play.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent bets that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the core, presenting it as both a legacy handover and a back-to-basics character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a nostalgia-forward campaign without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive fueled by classic imagery, character previews, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will lean on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will drive broad awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick pivots to whatever dominates the discourse that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, sorrow-tinged, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that unfolds into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a front-loaded month, with marketing at Universal likely to revisit strange in-person beats and snackable content Check This Out that interweaves longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a branding reveal to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are framed as marquee events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later trailer push that shape mood without giving away the concept. The prime October weekend gives the studio room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has consistently shown that a in-your-face, practical-effects forward approach can feel prestige on a middle budget. Expect a hard-R summer horror shot that pushes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio places two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, holding a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is positioning as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both loyalists and novices. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign pieces around canon, and monster design, elements that can lift deluxe auditorium demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by obsessive craft and linguistic texture, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is robust.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform plans for 2026 run on stable tracks. The studio’s horror films shift to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that elevates both first-week urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with worldwide entries and select theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in archive usage, using in-app campaigns, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps optionality about first-party entries and festival additions, slotting horror entries closer to drop and coalescing around go-lives with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a hybrid of focused cinema runs and swift platform pivots that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a selective basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to secure select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is simple: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a cinema-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame to scale. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-driven genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception allows. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using boutique theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, the 2026 slate skews toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate marquee value. The question, as ever, is viewer burnout. The practical approach is to pitch each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is foregrounding relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a Francophone tone from a buzzed-about director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the deal build is recognizable enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps outline the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that held distribution windows did not stop a day-date move from winning when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror rose in premium formats. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reframe POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, allows marketing to bridge entries through character arcs and themes and to continue assets in field without long gaps.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind these films telegraph a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that underscores grain and menace rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft spotlights before rolling out a teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at red-band excess, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and produces shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta reframe that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature design and production design, which match well with convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is packed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the mix of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late winter and spring prime the summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-October slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited plot reveals that put concept first.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can play the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate becomes something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss work to survive on a isolated island as the power balance of power inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to nightmare, grounded in Cronin’s practical effects and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting narrative that twists the horror of a child’s mercurial senses. Rating: not yet rated. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-crafted and star-led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A satire sequel that targets hot-button genre motifs and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a another family entangled with returning horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-driven horror over action fireworks. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving forward. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and primal menace. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 lands now

Three operational forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that paused or recalendared in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify clippable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will line up across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, aural design, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is IP strength where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.